Witness describes moments before plane crash near airport in Lumberton

Small plane crash in Burlington County. It happened this morning not far from the Flying W Airport in Medford. Let's get back to New Jersey correspondent Trish Hartman live now in Medford with more on what we know about that investigation, Trish. Yeah, Brian, the pilot, in fact, had just taken off from the Flying W Airport here in Medford. The FAA and the NTSB will lead the investigation, according to local police. And last we heard, that pilot, who was the only one on the plane, was awake when he was taken via helicopter to the hospital earlier today. We spoke with a neighbor who saw the plane going down just before this all happened. He was so low that I was like, oh my God, he's going to hit the house. Bill Sweeney was taking care of the sheep on his farm right next to the Flying W airport when he heard the small plane in trouble. I looked up and this plane was flying way out of normal pattern for the airport. Very, very low. And it was having, it had bad engine sounds like it was sputtering and backfiring. He says he was calling 911 as the plane went down. He and his wife rushed over and he says someone who was driving by and another neighbor came to help too. He and my neighbor John had kind of dragged him away from the plane because it was catching on fire. And so my wife kind of tended to this guy, was holding his hand and we were trying to keep him calm. He was in a lot of pain, a bad injury. Chopper 6 was overhead as first responders loaded the pilot onto a stretcher and into a helicopter which airlifted him to the hospital. Police say the pilot was the only person on board. One individual that was injured as a result of the crash, that individual was transported to the hospital to be treated for their injuries. Police say the pilot had just taken off. Sweeney says he was likely trying to make it to the open field, trying to land safely. A pilot is probably looking all around for where can I go because I got to land, right? And, you know, he was trying to get to that field and he almost made it. He just hit the tops of the trees there. Now that plane, according to FAA records, is registered to Free Flight Aviation, which is a flight school that has operated out of the Flying W Airport here in Medford for quite some time. We reached out to that company today, and we have not heard back. The pilot's name has not been released. No word yet on what caused all of this to happen. Again, it's still under investigation. Live in Medford Township, New Jersey, Trish Hartman, Channel 6 Action News. Sarah. Trish, thank you.